436 ANNUAL REPOKT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1920. 



Beneficial results obtained from increasing the bird population by 

 bird-attraction methods have been reported by various observers, 

 among whom Mr. B. K. Bones, of Racine, Wisconsin, gives the fol- 

 lowing account of some of the benefits he received from encouraging 

 birds. 



I commenced as a companion and disciple of Doctor Hoy over half a century 

 ago, and have fitted my place for a bird paradise, with plenty of trees and 

 shrubbery and 1 acre of lawn. Commencing with a single pair of grackles 

 about 20 years ago I have now over 20. * * * 1 counted 17 on the first 

 furrow plowed this spring. White grubs are about played out, and I have not 

 seen a cutworm in five years. 



Mr. E. H. Forbush, quoted a number of times in preceding pages, 

 is convinced that bird attraction pays. He says : 4G 



My first attempt at availing myself of the services of the birds in an orchard 

 was made in 1894-95. * * * The winter birds were attracted to the orchard 

 and frequented the trees during the entire winter. * * * In the fall, winter, 

 and spring they destroyed many thousands of the imagos and eggs of the fall 

 and spring canker-worm moths, the eggs of the tent-caterpillar, and probably 

 also the pupa? and imagos of the codling moth, besides scales, tineids, and other 

 enemies of the trees. When spring came, efforts were made to attract the 

 summer birds to the orchard. These attempts met with such signal success that, 

 although most of the eggs and young birds were destroyed by cats, boys, crows, 

 and other agencies, the remaining injurious insects were so completely disposed 

 of by the birds that the trees bore luxuriant foliage during the entire summer 

 and produced a good crop of fruit. This occurred in a season when both the 

 tent-caterpillar and the canker-worm were remarkably prevalent. The only 

 other orchard in the neighborhood that produced any fruit whatever was that of 

 the nearest neighbor. This had been partly protected by tarred bands and partly 

 by the birds from my place. Elsewhere in the town most of the apple trees 

 were defoliated, and very few produced any fruit that year. 



Mr. Forbush found birds equally efficient in ridding a garden of 

 weeds. 



In our garden [he states 47 ] we attempted to keep the weeds in subjection. 

 This in 1900 was almost an impossibility. In 1901 it was a serious task and 

 necessitated frequent weeding or hoeing all summer and into the fall. In 1902 

 the labor was much lightened, and this was in part due to the birds. All 

 farmers know that, while hoed crops in the main may be kept nearly free from 

 weeds, it is impossible to weed a squash or melon patch without injuring the 

 plants. Such crops invariably foul the land. It is also very difficult to keep 

 all fences and borders of fields clear of weeds. We depended mainly on the birds 

 to take care of such weed seeds as were left in the squash or melon patch or 

 along the borders, and they did their work well. 



The first year birds were not numerous enough to destroy all the weed seed ; 

 the second year there was hardly enough seed to gather an increased number 

 of birds. A small patch of Japanese barnyard grass was planted north of 

 the garden. The seed of this millet proved very attractive to birds, but it was 

 not molested except by goldfinches and an occasional English sparrow until 



48 Useful birds and their protection (1907), pp. 150-151. 

 47 Two years with the birds on a farm, pp. 12-14, 1908. 



